The main focal
point of the cemetery is the white-washed small "pir"
(sepulcher), which contains a small room in which Sofi Hamid
is supposedly buried. The pir is located inside the courtyard,
surrounded by a high wall. A stone camel, painted white, dominates
the courtyard space. Women who are unable to conceive visit this
shrine and crawl under the camel three times, a practice which
is supposed to help them to get pregnant. On our last trip to
Sofi Hamid in Autumn 2004, a young woman was there whose mother
was concerned that her daughter had been married for two months
already and had not gotten pregnant yet.
Photo: Farid Ashrafoghlu